Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Chungnam National University1Division of Biotechnology, Safety, Environment and Life Science Institute, Chonbuk National University2

2017.12. 531:540

+ Preview

+ References

+ Information

A study was conducted to compare growth performance of six female commercial Korean native chicken (KNC) crossbreeds from hatching to twelve weeks of age. Three hundred and twelve, 1-day-old female commercial KNC were used within 1 paternal line and 6 maternal lines. The chickens were allocated to 24 battery cages to give 4 replicates per strain with 13 chickens per cage. The chickens were reared under continuous lighting (24 h) and water was available at all times. Ad-libitum feeding was practiced throughout the experimental period. Among the six different strains, 2A had the greatest bodyweight (BW) at 42 days after hatching (p < 0.05). No BW difference between six crossbreed strains (p > 0.05) was found thereafter. Crossbreed 1A had the higher average daily gain (ADG) than crossbreed 2A and 3A chickens (p < 0.05), whereas crossbreed 4A, 5A, and 6A had similar ADGs to that of crossbreed 1A (p > 0.05) at 84 days after hatching. Furthermore, crossbreed 4A had a great average daily feed intake (ADFI) from hatching to 84 days (p < 0.05). Nonetheless, there was no difference in the feed conversion ratio (FCR) and uniformity between six crossbreed strains for the experimental period (p > 0.05). Despite that 1A, 4A, and 6A had the higher viability (p < 0.05) than crossbreed 2A and 5A, they had a similar viability than crossbreed 3A (p > 0.05). With this in mind, crossbreed 2A had greater BW, ADG, and FCR than other chicken crossbreeds from hatching to 84 days, although they had a lower viability than others.